January 22, 2018 8:48 pm

Tomorrow Night, Re-Discover the TRAPPIST-1 System with Emily Rice, David Kipping, and Chuck Nice

This week on StarTalk All-Stars we’re looking back at one of the biggest discoveries of 2017 – the TRAPPIST-1 system.

In case you’ve been living in a science-free bubble this past year, TRAPPIST-1 is a red dwarf star that sits about 40 light years away from Earth. It has seven known Earth-size exoplanets in its system, three of which are in the “Goldilocks Zone,” otherwise known as the habitable region where life can thrive.

To better understand TRAPPIST-1 and the excitement its discovery brings, host and astrophysicist Emily Rice sat down with veteran comic co-host Chuck Nice and David Kipping, assistant professor of astronomy at Columbia University, to investigate the discovery and answer fan-submitted Cosmic Queries.

First, you’ll hear how the discovery team needed to view the system for 500 continuous hours – almost 3 weeks – on the Spitzer Space Telescope to see the multiple transits – exoplanets moving across the face of the star – to make the full discovery.

You’ll also hear about the possibility of the exoplanets being tidally-locked and the problems that could cause for harboring life, the likelihood of discovering extraterrestrials on any of these exoplanets, the debate around sending radio signals towards TRAPPIST-1, and why red dwarf stars are popular among scientists. You’ll also learn about David’s “hunt” for exomoons.

One of my favorite parts is when Emily ponders what the exoplanets would look like from the surface of others in the system. With everything being so close, it might create a very breathtaking sight. It makes me think of the famous “Earthrise” photo from 1968 – if the Earth looks that beautiful from the moon, how beautiful would an exoplanet look from the same distance?

Lastly, you’ll hear Emily, David, and Chuck answer fan-submitted Cosmic Queries, including, “Because of less star light, would a forest of TRAPPIST-1 trees be darker with violet leaves?” and “Could the system already be gone because of the destruction of the star?”

Please join us tomorrow night for Exploring TRAPPIST-1, with Emily Rice (Repeat) at 7pm ET right here on our website, as well as on our All-Stars channels on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. If you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free at 7pm, too.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Ian Mullen